Worth the Trouble
by Princessstarryknight
Summary: Drabble based off of Hiro Mashima's art of nalu hugging and smiling at each other. When Lucy finds Natsu in the aftermath of his destructive tendencies, she's surprised by what he has to tell her in order to explain the situation…


**A/N:** I came up with this little drabble based off of the new picture that Hiro Mashima drew!

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Ever since Lucy Heartfilia had joined Fairy Tail, every day had been an adventure. So she really shouldn't have expected to have a normal day today as she walked back to her apartment from the guild hall and heard a huge explosion from a building nearby. When she turned and saw orange flames flickering from where the roof used to be, she immediately knew who to blame.

"Ugh, not again!" She groans and runs towards the commotion.

She reached the scene of the explosion and sure enough there was Natsu with a big goofy grin on his face and not a scratch on him as he stared down some people that were covered in ash and coughing it up.

"We'll get you next time flame brain!" One of them shouts as they run away.

"Yeah sure, we'll see how that goes next time you try to steal something important from me!" Natsu says and holds his fist in the air with something clutched inside of it.

"Natsu?" Lucy asks.

Natsu jumped a bit, not expecting her to be so close by. When he turned to face her he was blushing and seemed a bit nervous. Now Lucy was even more confused as she approached him.

"What's going on? What did those bandits try to steal from you that was so important you blew up a building for it?" Lucy asks.

"Well uh...it's something for you." Natsu admits shyly, clenching the object tighter in his fist.

"For me?" Lucy asks.

Now she was blushing too.

"What did you get me?" Lucy asks, reaching for his fist but he moves it away so she can't reach.

She looked up at his face and her heart began to pound when she saw how serious he looked. All of that goofy confidence he had before was gone and now he seemed shy and nervous.

"I uh...can't show you yet." Natsu says.

"Why?" Lucy asks.

"Is it my birthday present or something? You know that's not for a few more months-"

"It's not a birthday present." Natsu says.

He gulps before continuing.

"It's something else. Something more important than that." Natsu says softly, his eyes flickering from her face to the ground.

"Well if it's so important then why can't you just tell me?" Lucy asks, starting to get frustrated with Natsu's secrecy.

"Because...I was gonna come over to your apartment later and tell you then." Natsu says sheepishly.

"Well I'm already here, why can't you just tell me now?" Lucy asks.

"Because I wasn't expecting you to be here now!" Natsu exclaims.

"I thought I'd have more time to prepare for how I'm going to tell you this."

"Tell me what? What's so important that you're so nervous to tell me and bought me a gift..." Lucy's face paled as she came up with a theory of what Natsu was trying to tell her.

"Oh no...you're leaving the guild again aren't you?" She asks.

Natsu began to panic when he saw her start to tear up and her bottom lip start quivering. The last thing he wanted was to make her cry. He slipped the object he was holding into his pocket and gently grasped her arms to convey how serious he was about what he was about to say to her.

"No no no Lucy I'd never leave you and the guild like that for a year again, I promised you we'd be together forever remember?" Natsu asks.

Lucy nods, and then Natsu lets go of her arms and she wipes a small tear from her cheek.

"I also, had something else I wanted to tell you that day. Do you remember that?" Natsu asks.

"Yeah. But you said it could wait until after the 100 Years Quest?" Lucy asks.

"And now it's after the quest." Natsu says, building his confidence with every word.

"So I have something really important to say."

He gently took her small delicate hands, in his big rough ones and looked into her eyes.

"Lucy Heartfilia, I love you." He says with a small smile.

Lucy blinked in surprise and her cheeks heated up while her heart beat so loud that blood pounded in her ears. If she had said that Natsu telling her that was a thought that had never crossed her mind, she'd be lying. She had thoughts, silly dreams that this crazy boy she had fallen in love with would ever return her feelings. He wasn't into romance at all, so how could he possibly be in love with her like she was with him? But apparently he was, and that discovery made her yearning heart surge with joy.

"Natsu." She says softly and smiles brightly.

"I love you too."

Now Natsu was grinning like an idiot as well and all of his fear and anxiety washed away and was replaced with the glee that suited him so well.

"Really?" He exclaims and pulls her closer to him.

She smiles and nods, tearing up as he picks her up by her waist and spins her around while hugging her tight.

"Oh Lucy I'm so happy!" He exclaims.

"I am too Natsu!" Lucy laughs and holds him tight before he sets her down on the ground.

He has his arms wrapped around her waist while she holds his forearms and the two of them give each other their biggest grins.

"Then, now I can offer you this thing I got for you." Natsu says and pulls the object that had caused all of this trouble out of his pocket.

"I was walking by this store and I saw Gajeel walking out of it. So I went up to him and asked him what he got. After trying to punch me for 'not minding my own business' he caved and told me that he got this thing for Levy because he loved her and wanted to be with her forever. And that reminded me of what I promised you." Natsu explains.

Lucy was confused but she began to catch on as Natsu took a knee.

"So Lucy Heartfilia,"

He held out his hand and opened it to show a small black box.

"Since we're in love and we're going to be together forever, would you like to marry me and be my wife?" Natsu asks and opens it to reveal a diamond ring in the shape of a star.

Lucy covered her mouth and tears of joy sprang from the corners of her eyes. This was all moving so fast but she already knew that there was no way that she would ever love another man as much as she loved Natsu, so even though they had only just confessed their true feelings for each other, she didn't hesitate to say:

"Yes Natsu!"

She threw her arms around him and collapsed to the ground in his arms.

"Yes! I'll marry you!" She continues and laughs as she holds his face.

Natsu was tearing up and smiling as well as he held her close and gently slid the ring onto her finger.

Once it was on, they both looked at each other and kissed. It was their first one, so it wasn't by any means perfect, but after a few more tries they got a feel for each other's lips and their kisses became more skilled. Natsu scooped Lucy up off of the ground, holding her like the bride she would be for him soon and they kissed again before they heard someone shout at them.

"Hey!" An angry voice shouts.

Natsu's grip on Lucy tightened as his head whipped around to face the man who had yelled, on alert in case it was someone who would try to hurt him or his new fiancé. But it was just the jewelry store owner.

"You're gonna have to pay for this damage mister!" He shouts.

"Well I guess saving up for our wedding is going to have to wait." Lucy chuckles and rests her head on his chest.

"Nah, Gramps'll cover it. He does that for me all the time." Natsu says and gives her his classic goofy grin.

"And he gives you an earful every time. Either way you're still in trouble." Lucy laughs.

"Being in love with you is worth the trouble, Lucy Dragneel." He says.

That last part was softer but Lucy still heard it, and her chest felt warm from hearing him say her name with his last name, and she had a feeling that she'd never get tired of hearing it.


End file.
